1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wallpaper templates, and in particular, to templates for applying wallpaper to closures such as doors, shutters, blinds, and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Commonly employed interior closures include bifold doors, sliding doors and window shutters. These closures often have a number of parallel slats forming a louver. Doors (whether bifold or sliding) often have a cross member separating an upper section of louvers from a lower section that may have either additional louver slats or raised panels. Still other doors will have no louver slats or cross member, but will simply have a number of raised panels. Interior shutters typically have louvers slats running from top to bottom without an intervening cross member. Some shutters will have louver slats with a central longitudinal ridge, although such ridges may not be found in other shutters and will most likely not be found in sliding doors or bifold doors.
It will be appreciated that reference in this specification to closures will include all of the foregoing described doors and shutters, but will not be limited to such doors and shutters. Furthermore, descriptions specifically referring to one type of door or shutter will be deemed applicable to all types of closures, as the term is used herein.
Home decorators will at times use wallpaper to cover a window shutter or a door (including sliding or bifold doors). This task can be rather difficult when the door or shutter has louvers or raised panels. For louvered closures one difficulty is the large number of small pieces that must be cut. Maintaining a consistent size from piece to piece can be difficult. With some techniques the pieces may tend to grow or shrink for successive pieces.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,902 a transparent template made of a vinyl plastic or paper material is laid over a wall opening and the wallpaper pattern along the opening is traced onto the template. Thereafter, the template is laid over another piece of wallpaper in alignment with the tracings, before cutting the wallpaper using the outline of the template. The piece of wallpaper thus cut is then applied to a switch plate cover that is finally mounted over the opening. FIG. 15 of this reference also discloses using the template for applying wallpaper to a register. This reference does not disclose a template that would be useful for cutting pieces to cover such closures as a door or shutter. Also, the reference does not disclose printing the template onto a box containing the closure. Moreover, the reference does not disclose how to handle closures that may have a complex structure such as raised panels or louvers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 292,463 paper or other flexible material is printed with markings that serve as a template for cutting a door to be fitted with a lock. The template may be contained in a larger sheet and may be removed by tearing along perforations. The sheet may be large enough to serve as the xe2x80x9cwrapper for the locks in packing.xe2x80x9d Page 2, line 12. This reference is concerned with cutting a door and not with cutting wallpaper.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,343 a box has a plastic cover with several holes serving as a drilling template for installing a hinge contained in the box. Again, this reference is concerned with cutting a door and not with cutting wallpaper.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,821 discloses using a plastic sheet as a template for cutting a wallpaper border for forming a joint. This reference is unconcerned with covering closures.
See also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,219 (template slidably mounted on a wall-boarder""s or carpenter""s square for marking an opening for an electrical outlet box); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,190 (template having the same outline as a tool).
Accordingly, there is need for a device to simplify the cutting of wallpaper so that closures such as doors or shutters can be easily and accurately covered.
In accordance with the illustrative embodiments demonstrating features and advantages of the present invention, there is provided a wallpaper template for cutting wallpaper pieces in order to cover a closure that has a spaced plurality of segments. The wallpaper template has a sheet with a plurality of apertures arranged to define: (a) a segment pattern for outlining each of the segments; and (b) a closure pattern for outlining the closure.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a wallpaper template can be used to cut wallpaper pieces in order to cover a closure that has a spaced plurality of segments. The wallpaper template has a sheet with indicia arranged to define: (a) a segment pattern for outlining each of the segments; and (b) a closure pattern for outlining the closure. Thus, wallpaper can be cut by following the indicia on the sheet.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a wallpaper template for cutting wallpaper pieces in order to cover a closure, includes a container. This container is sized to hold the closure and has indicia arranged to define a closure pattern for outlining the closure. Thus, wallpaper can be cut by following the indicia on the container.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, a wallpaper template includes a sheet for cutting wallpaper pieces in order to cover a door, shutter, or blind that has a plurality of elements. This sheet has indicia arranged to define a closure pattern for outlining the elements of the closure. Thus, wallpaper can be cut to cover the elements by following the indicia on the sheet.
By employing devices of the foregoing type, wallpaper can be easily and accurately cut in order to cover closures such as single doors, bifold doors, sliding doors, window shutters, and the like. In one preferred embodiment, a box containing one or more doors or shutters can itself be used as a template. For example, round holes or slots can be cut into the box in a pattern matching the goods inside the box. The installer then simply lays the pattern over the wallpaper (cutting the box open or into segments, as needed) and marks the wallpaper through the holes or slots. Thereafter, the markings can be used as a cutting guide. If desired, the markings can be used to draw continuous lines for high accuracy cuts.
For louvered closures, a pattern can follow the outside perimeter of the closure and an inside perimeter surrounding the louvers. (Louver slats may be located in one or more sections on either side of a cross member; or may run from top to bottom in a window shutter.) There may also be placed within the inside perimeter a series of contiguous rectangles defining individual louver slats. For doors with raised panels, a pattern corresponding to the raised panels may be inscribed within the inside perimeter of a pattern corresponding to the door area surrounding the raised panels. With raised panels having curved peripheral segments, the template pattern can be formed with closely spaced holes or with curved slots that enable the installer to accurately cut a curve.
While the template may be formed by apertures in a box, in other embodiments the apertures may be closely spaced perforations that allow an installer to press a figure out of the box that can then be laid over the wallpaper to be cut. Alternatively, the figure pressed out of the box may leave an opening that is itself used as a template. In still other embodiments, the box may be simply marked with printed indicia.
In other situations a separate template that is not part of a box may be sold with the closure or as a separate product independently of the closure. This separate template may be a sheet that has indicia in the form of printed markings or in the form of apertures cut into the sheet.
Also, templates may be marked with alternate indicia for closures of various sizes. In such cases one template may serve a variety of closures of standard sizes.